One of the two men who pleaded guilty to $4.58 million worth of fraud while working at the Savannah River Site’s MOX project was sentenced Monday to 23 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs also sentenced 66-year-old Phillip Thompson to three years of supervised release after prison and said he must pay back the money he stole.
Thompson and Aaron Vennefron ran Ohio-based AV Security and landed a subcontracting gig in 2010 at the SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) – an unfinished facility that is supposed to convert weapons-usable plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel. Under the contract, Thompson and Vennefron purchased hardware materials to meet the needs of the MFFF project. The indictment does not provide details on what specific materials those were.
Last year, the two pleaded guilty to theft of government funds, admitting they falsified invoice submissions for unspecified materials they were supposed to be purchasing for the project. The false invoices were submitted along with real ones.
The admission of guilt was part of a plea deal under which the two men avoided being sentenced on the full list of charges, which included 14 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.
The government theft charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. Thompson, though, asked Childs in April for a light sentence of five years’ probation with no jail time, saying his “physical condition and ability to ambulate” have been deteriorating steadily, and that he requires 24/7 assistance from a caregiver.
Childs took those issues into consideration but said there are prison facilities that can accommodate Thompson’s health conditions.
A sentencing date for Vennefron has not been scheduled.
